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7 Artist’s Sketchbooks to Add to Your Sketchbook Inspiration Bank


For many artists, sketchbooks are where it all starts. Those first random scribbles that turn into a body of work that is investigated for 10 years, the gouache stroke that changes the whole trajectory of an illustration career, the doodled pattern that becomes a best-selling wallpaper.

Sketchbooks are secret little spaces where we are free to try new things and endlessly practice and record inspiration hits for later exploration.

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No wonder it’s so fun to grab a sneak peek into sketchbooks on social media – we get a taste of what goes on behind the scenes in an artist’s brain. Plus, sketchbook pages are usually more playful and experimental than finished works, so you also get to see a bit of process.

Now check out this sketchbook inspiration, and by the way, I’d love to see your sketchbook, so tag me on Instagram if you feel like sharing. 🙂

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Molly Egan Sketchbook Inspiration

Molly Egan is so much fun to follow on Instagram – she keeps up a steady stream of colorful illustrations, plus she’s got a great ‘Process’ section in her highlights area: I find it so inspiring to watch how artists work.

Molly fills her sketchbooks with art and shares them freely with all of our eyeballs, and she also illustrates digitally. Check out the class she teaches on Adobe Fresco.

molly egan sketchbook pages

Molly Egan: WebsiteInstagramSkillshare Class

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Sonal Nawathni Sketchbooks

Omg, flowers! I’m not one to freak out over flower art usually, but these sketchbook spreads are just gorgeous.

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Sonal Nathwani: WebsiteInstagram

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Lena Limkina Sketchbook Inspiration

Yeah, your eyes are about to pop out of their sockets. These sketchbook spreads by artist Lena Limkina are amazing by any standard.

They will especially resonate with fans of Da Vinci and Albrecht Durer, as she seems to channel their precision, mastery of technique, and focused study of subject.

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Lena Limkina: SiteInstagramStore

P.S. If you suddenly find yourself yearning for a lovely little gold bow ring after looking through her work, I tracked one down on Etsy.

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Jason Grube Sketchbooks

So much going on in these sketchbooks, which is really fun to see because then you look at his finished work and it’s all perfect and streamlined and designy.

Jason is a designer and illustrator in Seattle, and in case you’re about to click over to his Instagram, I need to give you fair warning: don’t expect to be able to stop scrolling and gawking for at least 40 minutes.

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Jason Grube: siteInstagram

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Julia Pott Sketchbook Inspiration

Julia Pott is an animator and illustrator, and the creator of the awesome Summer Camp Island on Cartoon Network. (Fun fact: For fans of Adventure Time, she was also a staff writer.)

So excited to have discovered her because of my slight obsession with cartoon animators, but I happened to find Julia by stumbling across some of her sketchbook spreads on Flickr from like eighty billion (internet) years ago.

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Julia Pott: SiteInstagram

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Marc David Sketchbooks

Okay, abstract-design-shape-pattern-color-lovers. Time to ooh and aah over the sketchbook spreads by German artist Marc David.

Don’t these make you want to immediately buy 100 paint pens and get drawing?

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Marc David: SiteInstagram

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Anand Radhakrishnan Sketchbook Inspiration

I’ll wrap this fun up with 2 sketchbook spreads by Anand Radhakrishnan that I found on Behance. If you check out his Instagram, you’ll see he’s much more illustrative, but I am digging these painterly spreads from 2015.

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Anand Radhakrishnan: BehanceInstagram

Updated November 29, 2024

Thanks for sharing! 😍

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